More cut-outs

These maps are insane...I think it would be cool to see the process behind them in a way that animated them.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/54765002/madrid-mapcut

Typographic Map - San Francisco

GOOD Magazine  | American Wealth Infographic

Crazy Paper | Architectural Cutouts

Ingrid Siliakus

Charles Minard

Minard makes a lot of info graphics and maps, one of the most famous shown above. This map is interesting becuase it shows multiple levels of information.

Prints, prints

I've been thinking a lot about fingerprints...how they are unique to everyone yet how they map out our own existence through everything we touch and everywhere we go.  For a first excercise I want to track my print...map it and then play around with how one influences the other. It is also interesting to think of while we each leave our own print on things in that one moment...how many existing prints have been stamped prior? How do our own prints intersect with those all around us?

MAP = grid

I started thinking recently about how mapping and grids used in graphic design are related and can influence one another. I came across a book on 2 x 4's webpage that uses a very visually stimulating grid work throughout the book. So I am thinking about the ability to overlay a grid over a map or vice versa....have a map create a visual grid for something else.

Here are some of the pages/grids I liked best from the project Prada Libro....

Mapping Rules...

I came across this article by a graphic designer who lays some ground rules....basically the gist of it is STAY SIMPLE.

About charts and graphs, for Impress Magazine, July 2000
By Nigel Holmes

Inspiration

AIGA Design Archives

This collection has tons of graphs, maps, charts and diagrams. I'm going to look through and post some of my favorites.

I am also going to look at Information Design

It is important to create experimental platforms–interdisciplinary forums in which theoretical and visual research merge and new content-related and visual concepts are tested in a playful manner. An autonomous research approach could help reflect upon and expand the methods of information design. This would also give new impetus to commercially oriented solutions. Artistic disciplines could provide a source of inspiration and thought-provoking impulses to this end.
Gerlinde Schuller  |  03.04.07

Here is another article on Information Design 


LATER.....

The New York Times, 1995

I really like the idea of fingerprints associated with mapping...using each unique print as a grid. I can't decide if this would work well or not...but just a thought.  The graphics included below I liked for their different approaches to representing information. Perhaps I will start moving toward the info-graphic direction? Not sure yet...

The Orchestra, Boston Globe, 1981

The Pre-Election Pulse, TIME Magazine, 1980

Reading response...

While doing reading from the visual research book assigned for class, I realized that there is a chapter mapping information. The map I like most from this section is a combination of a traditional map grid with text overlain instead.  I like the idea of combining this typography with a map in a 3-D way. Perhaps layering a bunch of different maps over one another so that the viewer can look down through all of them (if they were on a transparent material).

Visual Research  |  page 75

I think this map is successful becuase it is using a strong grid method and the text is ordered and restrained from becoming too dominant or out of order...

Doing further reading on the web on information mapping...I came across some graphic design guidelines which I found useful...also got me thinking about using coordinates to map infromation or creating an individualized system with boundaries I would have to follow.  I don't want to put too many constraints yet, this early...but definately something to think about.

The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type  |  Alex W. White

3D Maps??

I stumbled across these and thought they were really cool...http://observersroom.designobserver.com/marklamster/entry.html?entry=21968

They are three-dimensional build plans for lower Manhattan...extremely complex yet so simplistic in materials, and so precise. I definately like them and want to explore this direction further...however I still don't know what exactly I would want to represent in this manner..or in any type of mapping. I feel like the topic posibilities are endless.

I also came across the classic Subway map...which ofcourse is an approach completely different than any of my previous findings. I love the use of line, and color and repetition. It's both functional and visually draws you in... here's some more subway maps from other global locations

London Underground

Mexico City

Seol Subway Map

Tokyo Subway Map

The Old

I have stareted to look at ancient maps...finding a lot from this website, Ancient Maps, offering maps from various regions. Research has shown some of the oldest known maps to represent constellations and not geographic regions. However, I am more interested in the visual qualities of primitive representations in a time where people were just beginning to discover their surroundings and where there was not a great exchange of ideas, design methods and artmaking. Therefore, many of these early methods are completely unique to themselves and are very interesting to look at.

The above map is a 12-13th century copy of a Roman map dating back to the 4th century. It has unique divisions of information which make it appear somehwhat abstract.

 

 This map dates to the 1500, made by Sebastian Munster, one of the first cartographers to explore multiple continents. It is a woodcut, with interesting use of pattern, and imagry and scale.

While I enjoy looking at historical examples, for this project I want to explore mapping in a modern light, exploring the use of concepts, imagry, ideas....areas beyond just geography.

Preliminary Research Idea

Phase one of this project involves research, analysis and proposing different directions I would like to explore for this project. After thinking about possible avenues for the first part of senior year, I have a few specific interests. First, I have a great interest in stop motion which I have already explored in some of my classes. I am also interested in differences between 2D and 3D representation. I like finding ways to represent things in a 3D way, especially through using paper cutting and folding to create pop-outs. Finally, I really enjoy maps of all types, old and new, realistic and abstract. At this point I want to begin researching the many variety of maps in the world, both geographically maps and more abstract forms of mapping urban areas, ideas, concepts, etc.

While skiing in Vermont a few days ago, I liked looking at Stratton's specific way of representing their mountain through font choices, symbols, colors and overall illustration. The map has a ton of information being presented to the viewer, and also needs to be legible in a small space since it folds up into a pocket friendly guide for users.

This also reminded me of a trip I took to Norway this past summer where my mom and I attempted to navigate hiking trails on a mountain with a Norwegian map....it was very difficult to read it strictly based on symbols/trails...is there a better way to make maps transcend language barriers?